OpenProse

OpenProse is a portable, markdown-first workflow format for orchestrating AI sessions. In OpenClaw it ships as a plugin that installs an OpenProse skill pack and a /prose slash command. Programs live in .prose files and can spawn multiple sub-agents with explicit control flow.

Install

Enable the OpenProse plugin and restart the Gateway.

Run a program

Use /prose run to execute a .prose file or remote program.

Write programs

Author multi-agent workflows with parallel and sequential steps.

Install

1. Enable the plugin

   Bundled plugins are disabled by default. Enable OpenProse:

   openclaw plugins enable open-prose

2. Restart the Gateway

   openclaw gateway restart

3. Verify

   openclaw plugins list | grep prose

   You should see open-prose as enabled. The /prose skill command is now available in chat.

For a local checkout: openclaw plugins install ./path/to/local/open-prose-plugin

Slash command

OpenProse registers /prose as a user-invocable skill command:

/prose help
/prose run <file.prose>
/prose run <handle/slug>
/prose run <https://example.com/file.prose>
/prose compile <file.prose>
/prose examples
/prose update

/prose run <handle/slug> resolves to https://p.prose.md/<handle>/<slug>. Direct URLs are fetched as-is using the web_fetch tool.

Top-level remote runs are explicit. Remote imports inside a .prose program are transitive code dependencies: before OpenProse fetches any remote use target, it shows the resolved import list and requires the operator to reply exactly approve remote prose imports for that run.

What it can do

• Multi-agent research and synthesis with explicit parallelism.
• Repeatable, approval-safe workflows (code review, incident triage, content pipelines).
• Reusable .prose programs you can run across supported agent runtimes.

Example: parallel research and synthesis

# Research + synthesis with two agents running in parallel.

input topic: "What should we research?"

agent researcher:
  model: sonnet
  prompt: "You research thoroughly and cite sources."

agent writer:
  model: opus
  prompt: "You write a concise summary."

parallel:
  findings = session: researcher
    prompt: "Research {topic}."
  draft = session: writer
    prompt: "Summarize {topic}."

session "Merge the findings + draft into a final answer."
context: { findings, draft }

OpenClaw runtime mapping

OpenProse programs map to OpenClaw primitives:

OpenProse concept	OpenClaw tool
Spawn session / Task tool	sessions_spawn
File read / write	read / write
Web fetch	web_fetch

Warning

If your tool allowlist blocks sessions_spawn, read, write, or web_fetch, OpenProse programs will fail. Check your tools allowlist config.

File locations

OpenProse keeps state under .prose/ in your workspace:

.prose/
├── .env
├── runs/
│   └── {YYYYMMDD}-{HHMMSS}-{random}/
│       ├── program.prose
│       ├── state.md
│       ├── bindings/
│       └── agents/
└── agents/

User-level persistent agents live at:

~/.prose/agents/

State backends

filesystem (default)

State is written to .prose/runs/... in the workspace. No extra dependencies required.

in-context

Transient state kept in the context window. Suitable for small, short-lived programs.

sqlite (experimental)

Requires the sqlite3 binary on PATH.

postgres (experimental)

Requires psql and a connection string.

Warning

Postgres credentials flow into sub-agent logs. Use a dedicated, least-privileged database.

Security

Treat .prose files like code. Review them before running, including remote use imports. Top-level /prose run https://... requests are explicit, but transitive remote imports require per-run approval before they are fetched or executed. Use OpenClaw tool allowlists and approval gates to control side effects. For deterministic, approval-gated workflows, compare with Lobster.

Related

Skills reference

How OpenProse’s skill pack loads and what gates apply.

Subagents

OpenClaw’s native multi-agent coordination layer.

Text-to-speech

Add audio output to your workflows.

Slash commands

All available chat commands including /prose.

Official site: https://www.prose.md